Momentum or Deceleration? Theoretical and Methodological Reflections on the Analysis of Organizational Change

Beck, Nikolaus; Brüderl, Josef; Woywode, Michael

doi:10.5465/amj.2008.32625943

Cited by 95 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This is line with organizational theorists who suggest that change processes, such as the initiation of foreign activities, only gain momentum once they have overcome initial inertial forces that inhibit the pursuance of new activities, but that change processes in general are governed by deceleration, which means that change suppresses further change. Thus since they are able to learn from experience and are motivated to leverage newly gained experience, firms will first refine and repeat activities they are familiar with before engaging in change again (Amburgey, Kelly, & Barnett, 1993;Beck, Brüderl, & Woywode, 2008).…”

Section: Experience and Internationalization Modementioning

confidence: 99%

SME internationalization modes in the German biotechnology industry: The influence of imitation, network position, and international experience

2015

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In this article we reveal how network-enabled imitation processes impact young small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) internationalization, and how a firm's network position as well as its experiential knowledge moderate imitative behavior in internationalization modes. Building on institutional, network, and organizational-learning theory, we suggest that firms imitate the internationalization modes of their peers in their network. Moreover, we argue that a firm's imitation propensity depends on two important boundary conditions: network position and past experience. Applying a longitudinal event history analysis to analyze the complete population of 977 German biotechnology firms between 1996 and 2012 largely supports our hypotheses. Our findings reveal that firms imitate the internationalization modes of their peers in a precise manner. This implies that the imitation of others can initially serve as a presumably convenient low-risk shortcut to a planned or experience-driven internationalization process. Furthermore, our results confirm that this imitation process is channeled through formal network relations and that central network positions that are associated with superior information access, enhanced legitimacy, and status may promote deviating behavior. Acknowledging the interplay of different learning sources, our findings additionally show that initial internationalization mode choices of SMEs can have a lasting effect on subsequent internationalization behavior. Overall, our study contributes to a more nuanced view of imitative behavior of internationalizing SMEs and its boundary conditions, and highlights future research opportunities that exist for considering imitation and its implications in international business research.

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Section: Experience and Internationalization Modementioning

confidence: 99%

SME internationalization modes in the German biotechnology industry: The influence of imitation, network position, and international experience

2015

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“…Managers often display a bias toward action, in which they tend overwhelmingly to believe that there is an ever-increasingly positive relationship between exploration and performance gains (Peters and Waterman 1982). Organizations already accustomed to changing are more likely to change in the future (Beck et al 2008). In our study we suggest that this approach can be mistaken, especially when environmental changes increase in magnitude.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Driving Performance Via Exploration In Changing Environments: Evidence From Formula One Racing

Marino

Aversa²,

Mesquita

et al. 2014

AMPROC

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This is the published version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link Full terms and conditions of use: http://pubsonline.informs.org/page/terms-and-conditionsThis article may be used only for the purposes of research, teaching, and/or private study. Commercial use or systematic downloading (by robots or other automatic processes) is prohibited without explicit Publisher approval, unless otherwise noted. For more information, contact permissions@informs.org.The Publisher does not warrant or guarantee the article's accuracy, completeness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Descriptions of, or references to, products or publications, or inclusion of an advertisement in this article, neither constitutes nor implies a guarantee, endorsement, or support of claims made of that product, publication, or service. Copyright © 2015, INFORMS Please scroll down for article-it is on subsequent pagesINFORMS is the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the fields of operations research, management science, and analytics. For more information on INFORMS, its publications, membership, or meetings visit http://www.informs.org ntil recently, scholars have customarily lumped multiple dimensions of environmental change into single constructs, and usually ascertained that the more the context changes, the more value firms derive from higher levels of exploration. In sync with more recent studies focusing on specific dimensions of change, in this paper we borrow theoretical elements from systems theory to examine the possibility that the reward to developing innovative product components may itself be eroded by implicit and yet burgeoning costs to fit the new component technology into existing architectures, thereby dampening system performance. Specifically, we theoretically assess how varying magnitudes of industry regulatory changes affect the optimum level of firm exploration, and propose-counterintuitively vis-à-vis past literature-that the more radical (i.e., competence destroying), as opposed to incremental (i.e., competence enhancing), these changes are, the more the optimum intensity of firm exploration recedes. Based on quantitative as well as qualitative empirical analyses from the Formula One racing industry, we precisely trace the observed performance outcomes back to the underlying logic of our theory, stressing that impaired capabilities to integrate the new component in the architecture redesign and time-based cognitive limitations both operate to inhibit the otherwise positive relationship between firm exploration and performance. In the end, we offer new insights to theory and practice. Organization Science

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“…Of course, the concept of quantum changes -as featured by the attributes of corporate strategic changes set by definition stated abovecan be respected pro rata. Moreover, in this sense it is imperative to implement strategic changes relatively quickly to achieve better results (within two years, as the results start degrading when implementation of changes takes up to three years and even demonstrate the irrational propensity once these limits are exceeded; Miller, Friesen 1982;Kelly, Amburgey 1991;Jansen 2004;Beck, Bruderl 2008). Respectively, one of the essential tasks determining the purposeful management of corporate strategic changes is the objective evaluation of management measures and the results of their implementation.…”

Section: Climate Change and Corporate Strategic Changesmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Model for Evaluation of Corporate Strategic Changes in the Context of Climate Change: Plywood Manufacture

Tamošiūnas

2013

Journal of Business Economics and Management

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The paper presents the model for evaluation of corporate management measures aimed at solving tasks related to climate change challenges (UN 1998; EP 2009;EC 2013) faced by enterprises and inevitably leading to corporate strategic changes. In a detailed yet concise manner, the paper analyses the model for evaluation of corporate strategic changes and specifies techniques for its application focusing on the following proposed criteria: the market share; financial capacity; business development potential; product competitiveness; and productivity. The paper reveals the benefit of the use of the proposed model for corporate strategic changes. Greater possibilities are created to rationalise the process of corporate strategic changes and the use as well as development of human, material and financial potentials, which lead to greater competitiveness of an enterprise. The model guides to directions and actions to be taken in order to continue increasing effectiveness of an enterprise in the context of climate change objectives. The evaluation model suggested by the author is also analysed according to flexibility of proposed techniques, the characteristics of which can be modified and adjusted depending on specifics of the changing business environment. This allows ensuring and promoting competitiveness of an enterprise while pursuing the climate change challenges (UN 1998; EP 2009;EC 2013) set for businesses.

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Momentum or Deceleration? Theoretical and Methodological Reflections on the Analysis of Organizational Change

Cited by 95 publications

References 51 publications

SME internationalization modes in the German biotechnology industry: The influence of imitation, network position, and international experience

SME internationalization modes in the German biotechnology industry: The influence of imitation, network position, and international experience

Driving Performance Via Exploration In Changing Environments: Evidence From Formula One Racing

The Model for Evaluation of Corporate Strategic Changes in the Context of Climate Change: Plywood Manufacture

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